


Vanitas

by catie_writes_things



Series: qui coepit in vobis opus bonum (Father Todd AU) [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Catholic, Family, Gen, Jason Todd is a redhead, Jason Todd is a seminarian, Siblings, Thanksgiving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-20
Updated: 2017-11-20
Packaged: 2019-02-04 15:12:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12773688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catie_writes_things/pseuds/catie_writes_things
Summary: Entering the seminary means surrendering worldly vanities. That includes black hair dye.





	Vanitas

Jason wiped the steam from the mirror with one hand as he scrubbed at his hair with a towel in the other. Glancing idly at his reflection, it took him a moment to register. When he did notice, he dropped the towel around his shoulders and leaned in slightly, examining his hairline.

Sure enough, though darkened by the water, distinct strawberry-blond roots were now visible along his scalp.

His roommate, Dominic, entered the bathroom at that moment. “Going grey already?” he asked. “First Latin exam got you that stressed?”

Jason laughed and turned away from the mirror. “Nope,” he replied. “Going ginger. Haven’t done my roots since the semester started.”

Dominic raised an eyebrow. “You dye your hair?”

“Have for years.”

“Why?”

Jason shrugged. “I started doing it...to look more like my brother.”

“When you were adopted?”

“Yeah.”

Dominic, who was an identical twin, shook his head. “I used to beg my mom to let me dye my hair so I’d look  _ less _ like my brother.”

“Well,” Jason said with a quick glance back at the mirror, “I guess I’m giving it up now. I need a haircut soon anyway.”

“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!” Dominic quoted dramatically. Jason threw his towel at him, and left the bathroom.

* * *

When he stepped through the doors of Wayne Manor that Thanksgiving, Jason was immediately bombarded. Dick was making a joke about slaughtering the fatted calf before Alfred had even closed the door behind them. Tim was asking questions about his classes before he even had his gloves off. Damian was making a sarcastic comment about Titus and Ace missing him as he unbuttoned his coat. The dogs in question came bounding to greet him just on the heels of his youngest brother.

It was nice to be home.

When he pulled the knit cap off his head, the excited chatter came to an abrupt halt. Damian actually gaped at him, mouth open.

“Oh my god,” said Tim.

Dick grinned.

Barbara, who was just joining them in the front hall, nodded in approval. “Good to have another redhead around.”

She held up her hand for a high-five, which Jason gave her, smirking at Damian, who was still doing an excellent impression of a codfish.

“You didn’t know?” Jason asked.

“How was I supposed to know?” Damian demanded indignantly.

Jason shrugged. “Tim knew.”

“Drake is a stalker,” Damian retorted. 

“It’s okay,” Tim said, putting one arm around Damian’s shoulders. “You can’t be expected to know everything.”

Damian shrugged off Tim’s arm with an annoyed grunt.

“So why the natural look?” Dick asked as they headed from the front hall towards the sitting room. Barbara came to his side and looped her left arm around Dick’s right, new diamond ring sparkling on her hand.

“Oh, you know,” Jason replied, “renouncing worldly things and all that.” He clapped Dick on the shoulder. “But my hair is hardly the biggest news around here,” he said. “Congratulations, you two.”

“Thanks, Red,” Barbara said with a smile.

“Don’t worry,” Dick added as he wrapped an arm around his fiancée’s waist, “we won’t ask you to officiate.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “It’ll be years before I can do that anyway.”

“When do you learn to do exorcisms?” Tim asked, throwing himself ungracefully onto one of the sitting room’s couches. “Because honestly, I worry about Damian.”

Damian, who had settled himself on the floor with the dogs, glared at Tim. “I can give you reasons to worry, Drake.”

Tim waved one hand in Damian’s direction and gave Jason a pointed look.

Jason laughed. “That’s way above my paygrade.” He settled himself into an armchair by the fireplace as Dick and Barbara sat on the couch opposite Tim.

“Do priests get paid?” Dick asked curiously.

“Not much,” Tim answered before Jason could. At the confused looks he merely shrugged. “I researched it when Jason told me he was going to seminary.”

“Stalker,” Damian muttered, scratching Titus behind his ears.

“Who’s got a stalker?” Bruce asked by way of announcing his presence in the room.

“In this family?” Selina asked by his side. “Don’t we all have a few?”

Jason looked at Bruce. Bruce raised one eyebrow, just slightly.

“Gone back to your roots?” Selina said.

Jason smiled and shrugged. “It was time,” he answered.

“Really?” Damian scoffed. “She knew, too?”

“It’s a good look,” Bruce said to Jason, ignoring his youngest son’s indignation.

* * *

Damian would find no allies in Duke, who had discovered Jason’s hair color in a game of two truths and a lie on a slow patrol night, or Cassandra, who had always been able to smell the hair dye on him. By the time they finished the pumpkin pie that night, Damian was forced to admit that, somehow, he had been the only one in the family not to know this particular piece of information.

Jason, who had not intentionally left him in the dark, was mildly amused at how much Damian was annoyed by this.

“Why did you dye your hair in the first place?” Damian demanded later that night, having cornered Jason on his way to bed.

“When I became Robin,” Jason answered, “I did it to look like Dick, so it wouldn’t be as obvious.”

Damian came close to a repeat performance of his earlier codfish impression. “Father made you…?”

“No,” Jason said sharply. “He never made me do it. It was my idea.”

“Oh,” Damian said quietly. He gave Jason an appraising look, in silence.

“What?” Jason asked after an uncomfortable moment.

“First the priest thing, now this…” Damian said accusingly, “I feel like I’ve never seen the real you before.”

“Well,” Jason said with a tired shrug, “Maybe I haven’t been the real me until now.”

“Hm,” Damian replied, “Perhaps.” Then, after a beat, “Father was right. It is a good look for you.”

“Thanks.”

“Good night, Todd.”

“Night, Damian.”

As his youngest brother walked away, Jason was fairly certain he heard him mumble something sarcastic about “religious things”.

* * *

When Jason returned to his dormitory on Friday, Dominic was already there, sprawled on his bed with Aristotle’s Metaphysics open in front of him.

“Good Thanksgiving?” Jason asked him.

Dominic happily closed his book. “My older sister’s having a baby, and my brother just got engaged, so that took the focus off the young priest-to-be, thankfully.”

“Wow,” Jason said, “your family must be thrilled.”

“Yeah,” Dominic agreed with a smile. “How about you?”

“Well, my older brother is engaged, too,” Jason said, sitting on his own bed and kicking off his shoes. “It was nice having everyone together again.”

“I’ll bet,” Dominic said. “How is it  _ my _ family is the super Catholic one, but  _ your _ family has way more kids?”

Jason laughed. “Well, you know Bruce Wayne and his habit of collecting orphans…”

“Right,” Dominic replied slowly, fidgeting with the cover of his book. “So, that thing with your hair…”

Jason ran one hand over his red-blond locks, which had grown out just enough to start to curl. “Yeah, what about it?”

“Is it...weird? Not looking like your family anymore?”

Jason considered for a moment. “No,” he said at last. “Not really. The call to the priesthood...it calls you outside of your family, you know?” Dominic nodded, looking down at the book in his hands. Jason continued, “So it’s just an outward sign of that, I guess.”

There was a moment of silence. Dominic seemed to be considering Jason’s answer.

“You know what my brother Damian said to me?” Jason said suddenly. “He said he’d never seen the real me before.”

Dominic laughed. “So your melodrama runs in the family.”

“I’m adopted.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Dominic insisted.

“Okay,” Jason conceded, “you’re right. It doesn’t.”

  
  
  



End file.
